‘Deportation is the answer’

STACY LANGLEY, Tribune Staff Writer

Published 8:00 pm, Sunday, May 10, 2009

HURONCOUNTY— Huron County Sheriff Kelly J. Hanson met with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents recently to develop a plan of action for his department when dealing with immigrants found living and working in Huron County illegally.

Dealing with illegal immigrants in Huron County has been an on-going issue for local law enforcement officers.

Hanson said he was finding when deputies would encounter someone who is in the U.S. illegally, ICE agents — when called — were refusing to come to Huron County to pick up the illegal immigrant, leaving the deputy to find an alternative agency to assist in the matter.

Following a recent meeting with ICE officials, Hanson said he now feels the sheriff’s office and ICE agents have a strong plan to move forward.

Hanson said the goal of the meeting was to put the sheriff’s office on the same page as the federal agents who are responsible for immigration matters.

Prior to his meeting with ICE, Hanson said he was able to work out an agreement with the U.S. Border Patrol, which stepped in to help when ICE refused to pick up an illegal immigrant. Hanson said border patrol agents agreed to take the illegal immigrant into custody. He said he was satisfied with the help he was getting from the border patrol, but was still puzzled about what the role of ICE was, prompting him to contact officials for a meeting to get some solid answers.

“We’ve come to a good start. We’ve developed good communication and I’m rather happy with how the meeting went,” Hanson said following his meeting with ICE agent Brian Slonac, national program manager for the office of investigation, along with Jeff Schmidt and John Ross, both special agents.

Slonac didn’t clear up what the problem had been in the past when ICE agents refused to come to Huron County. He did, however, give Hanson his cellular phone number for any future issues.

“We (ICE) should be responding to any undocumented alien you encounter here (in Huron County),” he said. He added that the border patrol should only serve as backup for ICE agents.

“It should be someone from ICE (who responds to the issue) because we want to make sure we document who was caught and take down any other leads or information they (the illegal immigrant) may have,” said Slonac. “In general terms, if it’s a law enforcement stop, ICE should come up (to Huron County) if it’s determined they don’t have the documentation needed.”

Slonac told Hanson that an ICE agent will respond (taking the illegal immigrant into custody) within 24 to 48 hours of the initial call from law enforcement throughout the state. And until the agents make their way to Huron County, the illegal immigrant will be lodged in the Huron County Jail.

Hanson said Slonac has taken the initiative to get the issue resolved so deputies don’t have to call the border patrol.

“They are taking the bull by the horns, so to speak,” Hanson said, adding that border patrol agents have been very cooperative to work with.

Slonac added that the issue with border patrol agents responding is that their primary duty is to patrol the state’s border for illegal crossings.

“They should be watching the river, watching the lake, and other areas for possible border crossings,” said Slonac.

“If border patrol agents responded to assist the sheriff’s office it would take them away from their primary duty — a duty that is the responsibility of ICE agents. ICE should be talking to the undocumented person, finding out how they got here, where they are employed, and if they have any other incidents of illegal crossings into the United States.”

Hanson said while he felt it was important to get the issue resolved so deputies know who they need to call, he added he has no plan to kick in barn doors to look for illegal immigrants.

“I want to make sure they are here legally,” he said. “And if not, we want to move them on to the proper authorities. If an immigrant is found in the county without the proper documentation, they will be lodged in the Huron County Jail until ICE agents can pick them up for possible deportation.

“If ICE agents wish to investigate businesses here in Huron County hiring illegal workers, they may do that. They have the resources to do so.”

During the meeting, Slonac made reference to the Aquila Dairy farm in Colfax Township which was twice raided by ICE agents. Slonac said the farm had employed illegal immigrants on more than one occasion, but said he couldn’t comment further because the issue with Aquila Dairy is still on-going.

ICE has three offices in the state of Michigan. When an illegal immigrant is taken into custody by ICE agents, they are taken to the Detroit office where they are processed, finger printed, photos are taken, and the illegal immigrant is checked to make sure there weren’t any other encounters with ICE agents.

“There are times when we find someone is not only undocumented, but they’ve made numerous crossings into the U.S. illegally,” said Slonac, who added ICE encourages county prosecutors to pursue criminal charges when an illegal immigrant is alleged to have committed a crime. “We like to see the case run its course through the justice system.”

There are a couple of different options when an illegal immigrant is caught in the U.S. The person can fight deportation or agree to be deported.

When they are deported, there is an order to have them removed.

“We have a contracted flight that makes one or two stops and they fly down into the interior of Mexico and they are dropped off,” Slonac explained. “We keep a record of how many crossings a particular person has made.”

Slonac explained crossing into the U.S. is a crime, but the charge of illegal entry is very seldom used.

“A Mexican national would not be charged the first time they were caught,” he said. “In aggravated cases, we may pursue federal charges for illegal entry. That person could face two, three or four years for someone who has crossed four or five times and has some sort of criminal history.

“Deportation is the answer, though it comes at a taxpayer cost. Even in the most expedited case, it costs in the thousands to have someone deported. Millions are spent each year to house illegals until they can be deported.”